monitor conditions of detention, including by permitting them to conduct private
interviews with detainees.
To the Government of Turkey
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Immediately stop deporting busloads of Iraqis apprehended at the Greek border
to Iraq.
Immediately close the Tunca detention facility at Edirne. Until a proper facility
can be built, temporarily transfer all detainees in Tunca who cannot be released
or deported to the Gaziosmanpaşa Refugee Camp at Kırklareli.
Investigate allegations of abuse by gendarmes at the border and by guards at the
Tunca facility and prosecute those responsible for abusing migrants and
detainees.
Build a proper detention facility at Edirne to meet the needs for administrative—
not punitive—detention of undocumented or improperly documented migrants.
Provide financial support to the relevant police authorities in Edirne
commensurate with the numbers of migrants apprehended and detained there
so that the detention facility is adequately staffed—including with health-care
professionals on site—and is able to provide for the nutritional, sanitary,
recreational, and health needs of detainees.
Avoid the detention of asylum seekers and, consistent with international
standards, resort to detention only when necessary and on grounds prescribed
by law. Provide a means for detainees to challenge their detention and to seek
provisional release.
Set time limits (we suggest two months) on the administrative detention of
migrants who are being held pending their removal from Turkey.
Cease the practice of holding migrants in indefinite detention until such time as
their families are able to pay for their return tickets.
To avoid indefinite detention, harassment, and summary removals, ensure that
non-nationals can only be deported if there exists a lawful deportation order
which has been issued following full due process and the exhaustion of legal
remedies, after voluntary repatriation has been offered, and if no other protection
need or other legal or humanitarian basis for staying in Turkey has been found.
Deportations carried out on this basis must be done so in an orderly, dignified,
and humane manner.
11
Human Rights Watch November 2008
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents